The Department of Agriculture has been strongly criticised for its approach to the BSE crisis.
The Galway East Fine Gael TD, Mr Ulick Burke, said there was a feeling among the community that the State "was all over the place" on the issue.
"The Department has questions to answer. An example was its failure to identify the burial place of BSE-infected animals. Why is this happening?
"There is a responsibility on the part of the Department, and the Minister, to identify these locations."
There was a question mark over the safety of water in a location where animals were buried, said Mr Burke. He was speaking at a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, which heard reports from Department officials.
Mr Tom Moran, of the Department, said the crisis arose from a situation not of Ireland's making, and had given rise to action at EU level in which the State was participating.
"We have now in place the appropriate measures to allow the testing option, which is up and running well, or the option of the destruction of cattle, which is under way today."
He said that the culling of animals was introduced as a market-support measure. "We are trying to make testing as attractive and as practical as possible. "At the same time, in the immediate term, the markets are simply not there. There is a good surplus of non-consumed beef within Europe due to the huge crisis in confidence. The response to that has been the cull."
The committee chairman, Mr Bernard Durkan TD of Fine Gael, said the decline in confidence was due to lethargy on the part of European institutions in dealing with the matter.
Mr Seamus Kirk TD (Fianna Fail), a former minister of State for agriculture, said the Department had adopted a responsible attitude towards BSE generally.
When the problem first surfaced, the slaughter-out policy for herds where one BSE-infected animal was discovered was felt by many to be far too excessive a response, he said. Subsequent events proved that it was not.
Mr Tony Gregory (Independent) said it seemed to him an incredible waste to have "a destruction scheme" if most cattle were disease-free.
